The invention relates generally to a communication system, and more particularly to a system in which the quality of service of a voice over IP (VoIP) arrangement is monitored.
Telecommunication service provision is in a state of evolution. For many, many years, telecommunications services such as telephony were provided over what is commonly referred to as the public switched telephone network or PSTN. With the advent of the Internet, attention was directed to providing telephony services and enhanced telephony services utilizing the networking capabilities of the Internet. This has given rise to what is commonly referred to as voice over Internet protocol or VoIP services.
A critical aspect of any VoIP services offering relates to the quality of service associated with that offering. Users of telephony services have grown accustomed to high quality communications where calls are set up transparently to the origin point and the destination point with rarely any service issues arising either in the call set up process or during the course of the communication itself. Because of the nature of communication over the Internet, there is the possibility that service issues may become more pronounced and perceptible by end user customers. This is particularly of concern in a business environment where quality of service, reliability and dependability are critical for the business entity to be confident that it will have the communication services that it needs to effect its own business transactions.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a capability of providing predictive maintenance with regard to aspects of the VoIP services configuration.